I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by all that I want to accomplish today. My solution to this? Read, of course! In this case, this morning’s slices and other interesting blogs and articles from my Twitter feed.

Without question, the best thing about participating in SOLSC is meeting new people. I feel so fortunate to be part of this smart, creative community. So I shouldn’t be surprised that the way forward could be found by reading their blogs. Bonnie, at blkdrama, confirmed that I wasn’t alone in having lots to do, but really wanting to just sit and read. Reading Angela’s post about her notebook and all its contents brought on the light bulb moment, though. Of course I make lists all the time. They’re pages long, filled with tasks and chores that would take months to finish. So today I’m categorizing and prioritizing this list, choosing the most pressing item in each category (work, home, cleaning) and trying to finish those.

Work: I’m currently developing 4 units of study with colleagues. This process is challenging during the school year, as we all have students to teach, meetings to attend, and daily plans to write. The first step in our planning is to meet and discuss the unit’s broad goals and objectives. We also look at what we’ve been teaching in the past, what materials we’ve used, as well as what materials we have that could be incorporated into the new unit. Then I create the documents that spell all this out, and we meet again to revise, clarify, etc. Today, I must get the 2^nd grade character unit outline finished.

Home: This category includes things like paying bills, writing birthday cards and notes, getting packages ready to mail, and making appointments. The woman who prepares our taxes is coming on Tuesday, so all those documents have to be organized. Before Tuesday.

Cleaning: I don’t include laundry or daily dishes in this category. Those jobs just have to be done. These are chores like dusting and vacuuming, which I really don’t hate. They just take too much time. I do have a couple of tricks that help me get them accomplished. Listening to an audio book is a must while cleaning. I also find that if I work for about half an hour, and then take a short reading break, I’m much more productive. Prioritizing by asking “what would I be most mortified about if someone dropped in?” is a huge motivator.

I’m really not this organized, but writing this, like reading the blogs above, has helped me formulate a plan. My family isn’t listed here. They just always come first. Notice that writing isn’t included either. Trust me, I’ll be writing more today. I’ll also be reading. That’s just a given.

Thanks to all of you, for all your inspiration (and for reading these rambling thoughts). Hooray for us all for getting to day 10!

Thank you to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for hosting this Slice of Life Challenge!

I’ve made it to day 4! But that was mostly over the weekend. Today the real challenge begins. Will I be able to keep up daily blogging during the week? I came up with a tentative plan to help me accomplish this. Monday shouldn’t be too difficult, since I’m always reading at least one book that I can share for It’s Monday! What are You Reading? (And it can be written over the weekend!) The same is true for Poetry Friday. It’s the middle of the week that worries me. There’s plenty going on at school and really that’s point of all this, isn’t it? Turning the stuff of daily life into   something worth sharing. The trouble is, it usually takes me a couple of hours to write a post. I’m not sure I can find that kind of time during the  week. Fortunately, like many of you, I have stacks of notebooks filled with musings from the past 30 years. Hopefully, some of these can be spruced up and shared.

So what happened today? It’s now 8:30 and we’ve just finished dinner. I did start today’s post last night, but it wasn’t coming together. My straight-forward description of the book I was reading yesterday led me down another path; into a thicket, really. I soon realized I had at least 3 different ideas tangled up together. It was also clear that I needed to do a little research to support some of the points I wanted to make. At 11:30, I decided to go to bed, hoping that I’d be able to prune the mess I’d made into something sensible in the morning.

No such luck. As Robert Burns said, “the best laid schemes of mice and men…” Over the next few days, I’ll sort out the different posts in last night’s draft, do the research needed, and polish them so they make sense to me and anyone who happens to read them. In the meantime, thank you again to Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers for providing this forum. I really am having fun!

I am in awe of the talent on display in the Slices I’ve read over the past two days. I’m sorry to say I’ve only read a small portion of the many posted. Be sure to visit Stacey and Ruth and their Two Writing Teachers blog for links to all this amazing writing.

In her “March Manifesto,” Christy Rush-Levine shared  that “writing begets writing.” This is undoubtedly true, but I also think that reading begets writing. When I read Melanie Meehan’s thoughts about her father coming along for the ride when she goes out to do errands, I was reminded of the drives my family used to take when I was little.

I grew up in rural Connecticut in the 1960s. I know we didn’t have a ton of money, but I never lacked for anything I needed or wanted. We never went on vacation, but, because I’d never been on one, I didn’t know I was supposed to want to go. Instead, we went for drives. On Sunday afternoons, after my sister and I climbed into the back seat of our 1965 Chevelle (no car seats or seat belts to be buckled!), my parents settled into the front seats and off we’d go.

We drove the narrow, windy back roads past woods, ponds, and pastures filled with cows. I loved looking out the window at all there was to see. I remember when one of the first “developments” was being built in the town next to ours. We drove through looking at all the raised ranches in various states of completion. I think we even went in and explored some of the half-built houses.

Sometimes we’d stop and visit friends, or go to one of the two stores in the area that were open on Sunday. Both had a limited selection of toys, and I usually came home with a coloring book or some small treasure.

Those small trinkets are long gone. Looking back, I realize the real treasure was the time with my parents. They both worked hard during the week and looked forward to these drives as much as I did. As we got close to home, I’d lie down on the seat and close my eyes. Feeling the twists and turns of the road, I’d try to guess where we were, willing the car homeward.